Fence-machine



(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. A. OLARY.

FENCE MACHINE.

No. 387,860. Patented Aug. 14, 1888.

m VENTOR' 7%? 02/.

WITNESSES (No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. A. OLARY.

FENCE MACHINE.

' No. 887,860! Patented Au 14, 1888.

i -H III! WITNESSES [Ml W VA NHED STATES PATENT Trice,

KVILLIAM A. CLARY, OF NORTH FORK, TENNESSEE.

FENCE MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 387,860, dated Augustis, 1888. I

(No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, XVILLIAM A. CLARY, of North Fork, in the county ofHenry and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Fence-lllachines; and T. do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same, reference beinghad to the accompanying d rawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form part ofthis specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in machines for constructing woodand wire fences.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved fence makingmachine provided with an improved wire tension or tightening device, andwhich shall be exceedingly simple and cheap in construction and quick,easy, and effective in operation.

With these ends in view my invention consists in certain novel featuresof construction and combinations of parts,more fully describedhereinafter, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a sideelevation of my com plete device, illustrating a portion of thecompleted fence. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the reel carrying thewire. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the twisters, itsgear-wheel being shown detached. Fig. at is a longitudinal section of atwister. Fig. 5 is a top plan of the wiretwisting machine, showing theshield or flange. Fig. (3 is asection on the line it :0, Fig. 1, showingthe bevel-gearing for rotating the twisters; and Fig. 7 is a detail viewof the rear upright, showing the manner of mounting the main bevel-gearin said upright.

My improved fence-making machine is composed of a vertical wire-twistingmachine, a wire tightening or tension device, and the reel carrying thewire.

I will first describe the wire'twisting machine.

In the drawings, the reference'letter A indi' cates a verticalfence-wire-twisting machine composed of two parallel uprights, A Asecured together and a suitable distance apart by one or morecross-pieces, a, and the wiretwisting machine is supported and carriedby a horizontal piece or frame, 13, provided with slotted ends, in whichare j ournaled a pair of wheels, 21 b, by which the device is niovablysupported. The supporting frame B is contrally'provided with a verticalaperture, which receives a tenon or tongue, 1), formed on the lower endof one of the uprights A A and said tenon is pivotally secu red in thevertical slot or aperture, to allow the machine a limited verticalmovement, for the purpose l1ereinafter to appear. A slotted segment orbrace, C, is secured at its ends to the supportingframe B, and extendsupwardly and bears against the sides of the vertical posts or uprights,and is provided with a curved slot, 0, through which a set-screw, c,secured to one of the uprights of the machine, extends, and in which itis confined, thus bracing the machine and keeping it in a verticalposition when working over inequalities or undulations in the surface ofthe ground.

The vertical parallel posts of the machine are provided with a verticalseries of horizontal aligned or registering apertures, the apertures inthe front post, A, being preferably of somewhat greater diameter thanthose in the rear post, A and each of said apertures is adapted toreceive a horizontal wire-twister, D, composed of a hollow spindleextending through and projecting beyond its pair of aligned apertures inthe two vertical bars of the machine.

The rear or wirereceiving end of the twisterspiudle is rounded to form ajournal or bearing-surface, b to rotate in its aperture through the.rear vertical bar, A and near its front portion the spindle is providedwith another bearing-surface, l), to work in the aperture in the frontvertical post, A, and between said rounded bearing-surfaces the spindleis pro vided with a squared portion, 1)", upon which a spur-wheel, E, ismounted, and which is located in the space between the inner faces ofthe upright posts. A pin, 6, extends through the rear end of thespindle, which projects beyond the rear upright post, for the purpose ofholding the spindle in the apertures and for separating the wires asthey enter the spindle. The opposite front projected or discharge end ofthe spindle is enlarged and provided with Ice Q emcee anoutwardly-flaring bore, and two opposite, sides of the enlargeddischarge end are longitudinally slotted, as shown, and the dischargeend is partially closed by a cross-piece, f, provided with two openingsfor the passage of the pair of wires fed through and twisted by eachspindle.

Between each gear-wheel on the twisters and the gear-wheel on theadjoining twister in the vertical series are located the gears F,working loosely in the space between the upright posts a uid meshingwit-h the spindle-gears on each s1 e.

At about the vertical center of the loom the rear upright post isrecessed on one side, and an outwardly-bent strap, 10, secured to thepost at its ends, extends over said recess, forming a space in which isjournaled a bevel-gear, P, the spindle or axis of which extends throughand beyond the strap and is provided with a crank whereby the same isoperated, and said bevel-gear is adapted to mesh with bevel-gearingformed with the gear-wheel on one of the twisters. Thus it will bereadily seen that when the crank is turned all the twisters will berotated through the medium of the bevelgears and the intermeshingspur-wheels.

A flange or shield, H, projects forwardly from the top of the frontupright post of the loom over the wire-discharging ends of the twistersto protect the same from rain or falling object-s. A handle, G, issecured to the rear upright post of the vertical wire-twisting ma chine,by which the same is more easily handled. The forward end of the pivotedsupport B extends a suitable distance beyond the forward wheel, b, toform a rest or support for the bottom of the pickets when being placedin position.

The wire tension or tightening device is composed of a rectangularframe, the vertical end pieces, h h, of which are provided with avertical series of apertures arranged in pairs, the number of pairsbeing preferably equal in number to the number of twisters in thevertical loom, and thetop and bottom pieces, jj, of the tension-frameare also provided with registering or aligned apertures for theadmission of tension-bars K, for the purpose hereinafter seen. Thetension-frame is provided with one or more supports, R.

The reel-support J is firmly secured in position, preferably by securingthe link i to a post or the like, and the horizontal reel L, carried bythe support, is divided into vertical sections preferably equal innumber to the number of twisters employed in the vertical loom. Theupper end of the loom-support is bifurcated, and a shaft, m, isjournaled in said upper end and extends through the bifurcated portion,and is provided with a hand-crank, m, at one end. In said bifurcated endthe shaft is provided with a reel, to which is secured one end of arope, chain, or the like, the opposite portion of said rope beingsecured to a hook, N, projecting from the rear end piece of thetension-frame.

In constructing a fence with the herein-described device, after theposts have been placed in position the vertical wire-twisting machineplaced at the beginning post, with the discharge or flaring ends of thetwisters facing the post, the tensionframe is then placed a suitabledistance to the rear of the loom, and then the reel-support is securedin position to the rear of the tension-frame by driving a stake or thelike through the link z. The wire is then unwound from the reels andpassed through the apertures in the end pieces of the tension-frame, twowires being located on each division of the reel and the wires from eachdivision being passed through a separate pair of apertures in thetension-frame. After the wires have been passed through thetensionframe, the wires from each pair of apertures in the same arepassed through a separate twister and secured to the beginning post.After the wires have been loosely passed through the tension-frame, thetension or tightening bars K are inserted in the apertures in the topand bottom pieces of said frame, so that every alternate wire will passon one side of each post and the intervening wires will pass on theopposite side, and every wire will pass from one side of one post to theopposite side of the next post, and so on. Thus it will be seen that thewires are woven in and out between the bars, and that when pulling forceis exerted upon the tension-frame the wires will be stretched tight.When the wires have been secured to the post and the tension-bars placedin position, and it is desired to tightly stretch the wires and beginconstructing the fence, the free end of the rope on the reel in theupper portion of the reel-support is secured to the hook N of thetension-frame, and the reelshaft m-is rotated by the crank to wind upsaid rope, thus drawing the tension-frame toward the reels and tightlystretching the wires.

It should be observed that by this improved wire-tightening device thewires are all simultaneously and uniformly stretched and tightened byasingle operation and by rotating one shaft.

The further operation of the vertical wiretwisting machine will bereadily understood, as it is similar to those heretofore in use. Thebevel-gear is rapidly rotated by the crank, thus rotating the twistersin one direction and twisting the wires the desired amount. A picket isthen placed in position between the wires, and then the bevel-gear isrotated in the opposite direction,thus operating the twisters to twistthe wire in the opposite direction, and so on until the desired lengthof fence has been built.

What I claim is- I 1. The herein-described wiretwisting machine,comprising the uprights located a suitable distance apart andprovided with a vertical series of registering apertures,one or morecross-pieces connecting said uprights, a supporting-frame carried bywheels and upon which the uprights are pivotally mounted,

twisters extending through said apertures in the uprights,each of saidtwistcrs consisting of a hollow spindle provided with bearing-surfacesto operate in the uprights and having an angular portion between saidbearing-surfaces, gear-wheels mounted on said angular portions of thetwisters and located in the space be tween the inner faces of theuprights, gearwheels meshing with said gears on the twist crs andjournaled in the space between the up rights, the gear on one of saidtwisters being also provided with a bevel-gear, and a bevelgcar providedwith a cranlgwhcrchy the twistcrs are rotated, as set forth.

2. In a wire-twisting machine, the combination of the uprights suitablysecured together and provided with a vertical series of registeringbearings, 11 sopportingiramc carried by wheels and on which the uprightsare pivotally mounted, twisters provided with bcaringsurtaces operatingin said bearings, gear-wheels located between the uprights and mountedon said t-wisters between their bearing-surfaces, gears meshing with andconnecting the gears on the twister-s, the gear on one of said twistersbeing also provided with a bevel-gear, an outwardlybent strap secured toan upright and extending over a recess in the same, and a bevetgearjournaled in said recess and meshing with the bevel-gear on the twisterand provided with a crank, as set forth.

The herein-described twister, consisting of a hollow spindle providedwith a flaring or enlarged discharge end, a cross-piece extending acrosssaid end and provided with a pair of apertures for the passage of thewire, said hollow spindle being provided with two bearing-surfaces, anda squared or angular portion located between said bearingsurfaces to re.ccive a gear-wheel, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a wire-twisting; machine, of a tension-framecomposed of end and bottom pieces, said end pieces being provided wit-hapertures, and tension-bars extending across the frame and removablyheld in said top and bottom pieces, the wire passing through saidapertures in the end pieces and in and out between the tensioirba-rs, asdescribed.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own Iaflix my signature inpresence of two witnessc WILLIAM A. OLARY.

\Vitnesses:

GEO. W. Cozi'wir, R. P. DIGGS.

